Interpreter’s mission: “The mission of the interpreter is to help individuals and communities to acquire a fuller knowledge and deeper understanding of one another. Also to come to an agreement if they should want to do so.” by Jean Hebert from The Interpreter’s Handbook: How to Become a Conference Interpreter In order to be a qualified interpreter one has to acquire a combination of some qualities: which can only be achieved through an arduous process of intensive training and practice. These basic qualities include: 1)A strong sense of duty 2) A good command of the languages involved (both Source Language & Target Language) 3) An encyclopedic knowledge/Jack of all trades 1.5 Basic Qualities Required for the Interpreter

4)Acute hearing: Understand & grasp the “idea” 5)A good articulation: not to swallow part of the words; his voice should carry well and be pleasant to hear, speak distinctively and naturally. 6) Familiarity with “simultaneous note-taking”: A good interpreter must be good at note-taking. He should learn to be able to concentrate on listening to grasp the speaker’s “idea” while jotting down a few “key words” in the meantime, with signs or symbols to represent a sense group or a figure or a proper name. 7) A good memory: i Store up a large vocabulary including the relevant specialized terms and a great wealth of “relevant important formulations” along with the corresponding correct translation in the target language; ii Accurately absorb and retain the idea or the series of ideas. 8)Quick and accurate response: speediness and accuracy

To sum up, the process of achieving the above basic qualities means, in essence, the process of the strengthening of one’s “basic training in the three essential aspects”, namely, 1) the constant enhancement of one’s political awareness and sense of duty; 2) the constant improvement of one’s command of the languages involved and competence (as carriers of different cultures, and in terms of the “skills” —— listening, speaking, reading, writing, translation/interpretation); 3) and, the constant broadening of one’s scope and range of “general knowledge” —— 钟述孔 《实用口译手册》 Or a)have complete mastery over his working language b)possess broad general knowledge c)have acquired necessary technical skills —— Danica Seleskovitch